Originally Posted by
Az B
The new breed of German diesels have urea injection and particulate filters. This allows them to be as clean as the cleanest gasoline motors. German emissions standards are tougher than ours and the diesels are very popular over there.
Az
This isn't entirely true. Germany's diesel standards are worse than the US. In fact the new particulate filters will allow the Jetta TDI it to be sold in all 50 states. The TDI hasn't been available in 5 states that have tighter emissions standards. The new engines with the particulate filters will be bin 5 (which is considered average for a Tier II) the Prius is Bin 3. Bin 1 would be a zero emissions vehicle. Of course you can use biodiesel which solves most of the emissions problems.
From wikipedia:
In North America, the diesel TDI engine was not offered in 5 U.S. states when the Mark 5 Jetta was introduced, due to the tight emission standards promulgated by the California Air Resources Board. The four other states involved opted to adopt the more stringent California standards. Where it was available, it fell into the least-restrictive emission category. That category was removed in 2007, prompting the diesel Jetta to be unavailable in that market for about a year until the introduction of a new common rail diesel engine, which is scheduled to appear in 2008.[93] This engine will use advanced features such as a diesel particulate filter to reduce NOx and particulate emissions in order to qualify as a Tier II Bin 5 vehicle (equivalent to California's LEV II rating), therefore allowing it to be sold in all 50 U.S. states. AdBlue (urea injection) will not be used initially, reducing maintenance requirements.